January 03, 2008

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The White House says it has not withdrawn the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky for a seat on the Federal Election Commission, despite a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today that says von Spakovsky "threw in the towel" in the face of Democratic opposition to his nomination.

Since von Spakovsky was a recess appointment to the FEC by President Bush, and the Senate adjourned for the year without confirming him permanently to the commission, von Spakovsky's tenure at the FEC is technically over and he had to clear out of his office at the commission. Due to the standoff between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Bush over von Spakovsky's nomination, there are currently only two FEC commissioners in place instead of the normal six, which is not enough to conduct official commission business. Therefore, the FEC is essentially out of business at this moment.

The AJC quoted a New Year's Eve e-mail from von Spakovsky to his supporters that seems to imply he has given up his effort to be confirmed: "Today was my last official day as a commissioner on the Federal Election Commission,” he wrote. “The Senate officially adjourned today without acting on my nomination. … I wanted to thank everyone for their support over the past two years while I was going through this confirmation battle. All of the telephone calls, e-mails and notes I received from people were great encouragement for me.”

But the White House said von Spakovsky's nomination is still active at this time. "He is not withdrawn," said Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman.

So, as far as can be determined at this moment, the FEC stalemate has not been broken. It is unclear to me if von Spakovsky is going to withdraw his name from Senate consideration. I will post additional info as soon as I get it.

It would be nice if you described the stalemate a little. I had to google it to find out that Feingold and Obama put a hold on his nomination, so Minority Leader Mitchell retaliated by putting a hold on 2 others (dems I assume). Reid has offered to have an upperdown vote on each, but Mitchell says no -- they must be voted on as a package -- this because von Spakovsky apparently doesn't have 51 votes.
Are you saying that Mitchell is Bush's puppet in this? And Reid doesn't need to even consider two senators' holds?